The Nebraska Huskers will begin the 2015 season without their most explosive player.

Sophomore wide receiver and return specialist De'Mornay Pierson-El will be sidelined for six to eight weeks after a foot injury that came in Tuesday's practice, according to a release from the Nebraska Athletic Department.

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The Alexandria product is projected to be one of the team's top target this season. He amassed 596 punt return yards, a figure nearly 200 yards higher than any other player in the country and a mark that sits third on the program's all-time single-season list. It took 12 seconds for him to produce the the seventh-longest punt return in school history.

He returned three punts for touchdowns (a school record) -- tied for the most of anyone in Division I college football -- and had an average of 17.53 yards per punt return (second-best in the nation among players that returned more than 20 punts); the median punt return among in Division I college football last season was 7.8 yards.

Photo courtesy of Huskers.com

Pierson-El was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week twice, won the 2014 Jet Award Most Valuable Punt Returner Award, and was a first-team All-America selection as a punt returner -- the first Husker freshman to make the Football Writers Association of America All-America team.

As a receiver, his top performance came in the season finale against USC, hauling in eight catches (a school record for a bowl game) for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Pierson-El took to Twitter -- as did many of his teammates -- subsequent the release. If he were to return in six weeks, he'd return for the Nebraska-Illinois game on Oct. 3.

In addition, freshman wide receiver Lavan Alston will be out for the season after suffering a knee injury in Tuesday's practice.